Many years ago – maybe Jr. High or High School – I was wandering around in the woods up at Fields (outside Oakridge, where my Dad lived), and I came across an abandoned telephone pole, with glass insulators still on it. I believe I was with my step-brother Tony. We retrieved one, and I kept it for years. Flash-forward to college, I lived in an apartment with Sierra, and our cat – in a fit of something – jumped up on the shelf, knocked it off, broke it, then jumped down. (To my memory, this cat never did this again.) I mourned the loss, as I am horribly sentimental. Flash-forward again, and our new roommate Anna – who heard this story – gifted me these vintage insulators. Thank you so much! These are exactly the kind of things that warm this overly insulated glass heart.

We barely scratched the surface regarding the stories he could have told. But sit down and enjoy my chat with Timothy Knight, as we talk about selling guitars, playing in bands, and what living in the desert can do to a person. Available for stream or download.
https://anywhereanywhen.wordpress.com/2018/07/31/timothy-knight-i-found-me-in-the-desert/

I think about this a lot.

Oh shit!

Who do I know who does performance art here in Oregon?

What’s more important? The right to be an asshole, or finding a new way to define American Freedom?

He almost looks like Johnny Cash from this angle.

If you wanna feel really creepy late at night, just search “young George Carlin glasses.” You won’t be disappointed, but the shame that comes with it…

More Music!

More Comedy!

The hits keep hitting.

I think about Jimmy Durante a lot.

“You’ve got this-a. You’ve got that-a. And boy you’ve got those. You’re a pip. You’ve got it. Can’t you see you’re even making a poet out of me? Me rhyming pip with it.” – Jimmie Durante

I’m worried about the sudden uptick in number and downtick in quality of Shredded Cheese Memes, especially ones focused on something no one ever does. At 3 AM, no one eats shredded cheese from a bag. They assemble a charcuterie plate with an assortment of cheeses on a board and you bust out the expensive soda crackers. Like a gentleman.

For about three seconds, I actually entertained the thought, “I wonder when Saturday Night Live starts?”

I haven’t seen an episode since the ‘90s.

The Blow Mold army is looking might Sharp. And by sheer numbers, clearly the pumpkins are the soldiers, and Santa and his crew are in ‘leadership’ roles.

What’s your most recent recording / release?

I mowed two lawns, recorded / performed over three hours of music, and took two naps.

The 2 – 3 – 2 plan is working out pretty well for me.

Listening to old radio shows from the mid/late ‘70’s has revealed two things to me:

1.) While we can certainly guess at this based on available evidence, it seems as if Disco was actually more popular than any of us could have imagined.

2.) It must have been annoying to have a CB Culture joke crammed into every element of popular culture.

I’m sorry if I misunderstood this previously. My how you suffered.

Fuckin’ A. Most of us are goddamned lucky to be alive.

Love is homemade curry by Marla. #sappy #whatever

This is how we do it.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/President-Donald-Trump-Star-Hollywood-Walk-Fame-Vandalized-489103611.html

The project pedal that Jesse Ransom Burkett made, then gifted me, seems to be on the fritz. New batteries and General nosing around doesn’t reveal an obvious problem. Then again, without voltage meters and other gear, it’s largely academic. I’m not sure how badly I want a squarewave pedal right now. Maybe we should get together and build something else into it?

Musical Types: I love my delay pedal, and I use it a lot. But I feel like there’s something missing from my sound. I’m adding a distortion pedal, which I hope will flesh out what I’m missing, but it got me thinking: what are your three most essential pedals? Only three. No pedalboard nonsense. Just the three you use the most and provide your “sound.” I’ll be curious what people have to say.

One of my favorite stories, presented in radio form. The podcast has 45 minutes of bonus songs, too. Enjoy.

We get into details about how the show started, the tech issues they had to solve, and then the transition from podcast to radio program. This is a good one for people who want to know the inside dish about podcasting, and what it takes.
https://anywhereanywhen.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/heather-zajkowski-i-think-its-better-to-go-and-do-whats-in-your-heart/

This accident of architecture on Willamette in Eugene reveals two staircases that lead from the sidewalk above to the street below. For well over 20 years it’s been there, without any cry from the public to fix this aberration. In the ’90’s, you could find many of us on these stairs late at night, on acid, chatting about any and every cultural aberration, trying to impose meaning on a confusing world around us.

Come, join our Comics & Record Swap! We’re having two of them, do check both dates! Comics & Record Swap!

Camping, July, Batch 7 of 7 (Kiisu Dsalyss, Sierra & Colin Hix)

Camping, July, Batch 6 of 7 (Kiisu Dsalyss, Sierra & Colin Hix)

Camping, July, Batch 4 of 7 (Kiisu Dsalyss, Sierra & Colin Hix)

Camping, July, Batch 3 of 7 (Kiisu Dsalyss, Sierra & Colin Hix)

Camping, July, Batch 2 of 7 (Kiisu Dsalyss, Sierra & Colin Hix)

Camping, July, Batch 1 of 7 (Kiisu Dsalyss, Sierra & Colin Hix)

Do you enjoy arguing with people online? Why?

I miss you guys already.

So… what I miss?

The troll have given us a blessing.

Unjust elections, wrongly jailed citizens, lying politicians on the news, leaders waffling on the meanings of “will / will not,” and the president looks eerily like our current leader. Woah.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0644560/

Dude! The KARP albums are finally available again. They’ve been out of print for a while. Rejoice! Time to get “Rowdy,” again!
https://karp1.bandcamp.com/

Record / Comics swap friends. The votes were tallied, and it looks like more people liked the idea of after work on a weekday than the idea of a weekend. So we’re gonna do both.

I’m thinking August 16th (Thursday) & 19th (Sunday). Family friendly. We’ll have veggie and meat friendly grills, and we can hang and swap stuff.

I want to know:

1.) If this works, will I see you there?
2.) If this doesn’t, what does?
3.) Is there another factor I need to consider?

Let’s get this party started… to be planned.

I wonder if Trump will resort to more Reagan style “humor.”

In the comics, Lex Luthor was elected president of the US and served three years in office. He ran an extremely corrupt campaign, and was very corrupt in office, going so far as to collude with intergalactic villains to get his way. Eventually, Batman & Superman remove him from office after Luthor tries to kill them. He’s stripped of his money and power and Luthor returns to being a shitty businessman.

In my memory, in the comics, they changed the laws to make it harder for the presidency to be manipulated like this. However, I can’t find any reference to it anywhere.

Are we gonna change the laws this time?

Plumbing Problems Persist. Salem: this is our third appointment in 18 months to have some work done, essentially a variation of the same draining problem three times in two locations.

Roto-Router feels like a scam. Same-day means “emergency,” which costs a lot. But I can’t schedule “elective” plumbing because there’s not enough plumbers to handle non-emergencies. What I need is someone to come and give me a diagnosis, tell me what can be done and what the costs will be, and then I need to figure out if I need to actually take out a loan or not.

Put another way: when we call a plumber, it’s hard to know how much it costs. I don’t have an emergency (yet), but I don’t want to pay emergency prices anymore. I want to know what’s wrong, what long-term solutions exist, and what kind of timelines are at work so we can figure out what to do next.

Right now, every time I call a plumber, a large (but variable) amount of money is immediately spent. I’m trying to control for that variable as best I can.

Anyone?

Musicians: what is the difference between releasing your own material in any format (diy), and having anyone else releasing your material for you (be it a “diy” person handling it for you or a an actual “label”)? Why do you prefer one vs. the other?

Musicians: What was your first release? Single, CD, LP? A tape? Compilation? How long? How old were you?

TV’s Frank always cracks me up.

That was creatively satisfying.

Come on down.

If it’s Friday, it must be Mid-Valley Mutations. Join us for s Sci-Fi epic set in four different time periods, plus music and other oddities. It all starts at 10 PM on KMUZ.org.

Comics / Record Swap Friends: Let’s try to zero in on a time that would suit the most of us. I’m thinking, perhaps, to do something like a Garage Sale, and just have it “all day” some day, and people can drop by when they can. But getting the largest concentration of folks together in one place would be useful. So: let’s start here. (Comment other suggestions / tag friends who also might want to participate.)

Fuckin’ drum programming. wTF?

Where does the time go? I miss you, little kitten.

Friends: I have about 300 records and about that many again comic books that need a new home. I want to make sure they get a good home more than I need to make money off of them.

What should I do with this stuff? I have a photo next to a fridge for physical reference.

You can believe
Anything you want.
But that won’t get you
A Homosexual President.

“All music is shit to God.”

You wanna make me cry? Nail a Fleetwood Mac song at an Open Mic, apparently.

The NorCal NoiseFest is the longest running festival of this kind, and has always been supported by people who care about this kind of music. If this sounds like something you would like to help make happen, follow the link and help. There’s some great perks this year, and you can help make fun art happen. Donate today, and often!
https://igg.me/at/norcalnoisefest22

Why We Are Lazy?

Because the future goes to the slipshod
and the slothful and the bovine,
because the dimbulbs get the fleshy pulp
& the brights settle for the rind.

This is why, this is why,
why we are lazy?

Because it’s the boors and dinks and dullards
who always win the prizes,
and it’s the virtuous who get the shaft
and the chaff that always rises.

This is why, this is why!

With all the deep nostalgia of GenX infecting every moment of every day, it’s important to remember that every period of history was just as terrible as now. Case in point: that time in the ‘90’s when Rodney Bingenheimer reminded us how terrible the ‘90s were.

“Brian Wilson speaks for Janis? / Tattoos & body piercing is the new menace. / S&M doesn’t stand for Sonic Youth or The Monkees. / All the cute girls of the ‘90s are junkies. I hate the ‘90s!”

“Tickets include coffee and pastries in the morning and… wine and beer after the day’s events and before the concert.” I’d get your tickets now.

Scottworks Raymond Scott Festival Scheduled For Sept 8, 2018 In LA

Saturday Night be like.

This is just always playing in the back of my mind, if you want a peek into what I’m working with most days.

Oooooo. Chilling.

This episode features a number of pieces from “Revenge of The Lawn” by Richard Brautigan strewn about, along with selections by Harry Nilsson, George Carlin, Vangelis, Gary Wilson, Billy & The Boingers, Rodney & the Tube Tops, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Simply Saucer, Tiny Tim, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Mx-80 sound, Tom Lehrer and Perez Prado himself, plus many others on this two-hour journey through Novelties and Oddities. I really like this one. Enjoy!

The Executive Version is Live on KMUZ.org!

I guess I’ve seen all of the InterWebATron. #Huh

Getting ready to go live with “The Executive Version” for Mid-Valley Mutations listeners. Regular listeners will hear a 2005 re-run of Thomas Gundrun’s classic quiz program, “What Outdoor Area Are We Describing” at 10 PM on KMUZ.org

Happy X-Day, one and all.

I’m about to walk around to all of my neighbors houses to yell, “Bang!” until the house stirs. Who’s with me?

My hero.

Traumatized cat here, and our kitten ain’t fairing so well, either.

Nappy Hollandaise, one and all.

Rather than celebrate The Fourth of July, instead I’ll celebrate the Birthday of Father Yod, the insane psyche-rock / cult personality who introduced America to vegetarian food, and was born on this day in 1922. wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Yod

America Be Like.

I’ll cut to the chase: we probably talk more about Springsteen & Yes than we do The Milkmen. But I think fans of his will absolutely want to hear him talk about his process for assembling his weekly show, Rodney Anonymous Tells You How to Live on Y-Not Radio. This one is a good one.
https://anywhereanywhen.wordpress.com/2018/07/03/rodney-anonymous-theyre-not-jokes-to-me/

Watching old footage of The Cramps is amazing because occasionally you catch Poison Ivy rolling her eyes at the leering audience, and you realize how great they were yet again.

Here’s another great run in my collection: Mills Brothers to Ministry to Minor Threat.

I’m also a fan of Fœtus being between Flipper and Four Tops.

I appreciate the fact that Butthole Surfers are between Built To Spill and The Byrds. “You were wrong when you said…”

This installment of waking up suddenly in the night is brought to you by fireworks.